


Writer's Block

by SynthSea



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:07:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8939323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SynthSea/pseuds/SynthSea
Summary: Several years (and published stories) later, successful novelist Dipper finds himself faced with a writer's block and a phone call from family.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Gravity Falls Secret Santa 2k16 gift for someone in the fandom! Also the first time I've actually sat my ass down and wrote a full fanfic for a fandom. Also this is unbeta'd because I'm a procrastinating piece of garbage.

Write what you know.

Dipper could fill a wall with all of the rules all his writing courses taught him, and fill the opposite wall with all the rules those same courses taught him to break. But for all the rules in the world, none really ever taught him out to figure out writer’s block. Or what to do when you ran out of things you knew that you could write about.

He sighed and reached for a pen next to him, and twirled it, twisting it through his fingers in mindless patterns. Better than chewing the end until his teeth wore the plastic down anyway. His ink stained waste basket was proof enough as to how many times that had happened.

Write what you know...but what was left to write? He’d sent in manuscripts based from the adventures he had in Gravity Falls, published books from those stories. Hell, he’d even dabbled in blogging for a moment, writing about cryptids from around the world and their origins. So after all that, what else could he do?

The sound of his phone buzzing and vibrating cut through his train of thought, making him jump.

“Hey--” Dipper quickly moved the phone away from his ear in time for Mabel’s voice to ring through the speakers.

“DIPPER! Ohmygosh, I _know_ it’s late, but hear me out, hear me out, okay?”

“Good to hear you, too, Mabel,” Dipper relaxed in his seat, smiling. He could practically feel Mabel’s smile beaming from the phone screen. “Yeah, don’t worry, I’m just up writing. What’s up?”

“The Stans are coming back! But hold up, bro--” There it was, Dipper steeled himself for what came next. “Dude! It’s what in the morning? Four? Five? Have you been getting sleep? Dipper. Bro. You need to sleep in order to write! Come on!”

“I know, I know! I’ve just hit a block, you know how it goes. I haven’t started chewing my shirt yet, I can tell you that at least.” Dipper looked back at the laundry basket of old t-shirts. Some showed signs of having been worn around the front collar. Not that Mabel needed to know that. Dipper turned his attention back to the conversation, realizing that Mabel had continued prattling on without him.

“--being alone and no one to keep an eye on you really isn’t good, I mean, when was even the last time you ate? Do you remember to shower? I guess you could get that whole hermit hipster vibe going on, but that look is so 2015. And no brother of mine is gonna be behind on looks and stuff, not if I can help it!”

Now they were slightly off-topic. Dipper rolled his eyes fondly. “Mabes, you were saying something about the Stans being back?”

“Oh, yeah! They made a quick stop to see mom and dad, but they’re having a reunion-slash-homecoming at Gravity Falls. You’re closer than I am, since I’m still flying in from Seattle. But dude, see if you can pick them up?”

“Yeah, uh,” Dipper scrambled for a piece of post-it. “Did they tell you when? Actually, how they even getting here?”

“Gimmie a second, the last message I got from them saaaaays…” There was a brief moment of thoughtful humming and the sound of papers being shuffled before Mabel let out an exclamation of triumph. “Today! Nine in the morning at the bus depot. Oh. Oops.”

“Nine! Mabel! That’s,” Dipper glanced at the clock, realizing that it was too dark to catch the time, looked at his phone instead and blinked blearily. “That’s about four hours from now! Not even!”

“Sorry!”

“So much for getting sleep tonight,” said Dipper dryly, rubbing his eyes before staring at his laptop screen again. “I guess this means I can stay up and write a bit more.”

“Well, maybe I can help?”

“I mean…”

“Dipper, I’m at the airport, and my flight has me stranded here for eight hours. You’re gonna let me help, or so help me, I’m going to inhale three bags of skittles, and whatever gets posted on my snapchat and Facebook isn’t my responsibility.”

“I don’t think that’s out of your norm, Mabes, but alright,” Dipper responded with amusement. “Let me put you on speaker, hang on--”

Taking the opportunity to sit up and roll his shoulders, Dipper set his phone down next to his laptop. “Can you still hear me?” He asked out loud. “Yep!” came Mabel’s cheerful reply. “Perfect. So the problem I have is...I’ve run out of things to write.”

“Whaaaaat?”

“No, like, it’s true!” Dipper waved a hand at the blank document, glaring at the blinking cursor, as if every flicker was made specifically to taunt him. “That last series about the kids and aliens took so much out of me, I dunno how to follow up with that. And that was just a three-part series. How am I gonna be a successful author if I can’t keep that work up? I got lucky with the first two books already, and if it weren’t for Candy’s idea about a kids series, I wouldn’t have thought about it, but I’m running dry by now…”

Mabel hummed thoughtfully through the speakers, and Dipper took that as a sign to continue. “I mean, I could write more about cryptids, but I feel like that’s pigeonholing me. Besides, Grunkle Ford is the one who kinda knows about them from a scientific perspective. I definitely know now that our approaches are way different, though his old journals definitely help. But then again, I already cover a bit of that on the blog…”

“Mabel, you see what I mean?” Dipper asked, sighing and sagging in his seat. “I’m totally out of ideas. Washed up, before my thirties.”

“Huh. Hey, Dipper?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you written about us?”

Dipper sat up again, before realizing his phone was on the desk. He stared at it. “Yeah. My first book, remember?”

“Yeah, but, that was two siblings going on an adventure. I mean, did you write about us? All of us?” Mabel asked gently. “I mean, the whole thing with Stan and Grunkle Ford, and us…”

_...but trust me. Everything I’ve worked for, everything I care about, it’s all for this family!_

_Pines! Pines! Pines!_

_Listen everybody! This debate is over! I gotta go save my family!_

_You’re our hero, Stanley._

“--leave out the detailed bits, of course, but it has the perfect makings of another summer romance-adventure story! And! I’ll bet it’d be a hit with both kids and adults, too!” Dipper blinked, realizing again that he’d zoned out and Mabel continued out without noticing. “Dipper? Dipper, are you still there?” Scratch that, she’d noticed.

“Yeah, yeah, I am,” he replied hastily. “That actually helps a lot, Mabes. Thanks.”

“No, problem!” she proclaimed proudly. “So, know what you’re gonna write about?”

Dipper chuckled and nodded, his fingers already flying across the keyboard. “Yeah, I got an idea.”

“I think I’m gonna write about family.”


End file.
